FY21 Budget: Schools - Boston Public Schools · “Boston Public Schools (BPS) has a long, rich tradition and commitment to education as the birthplace of America’s public education

FY21 Budget: Schools

Dr. Brenda Cassellius, Superintendent

Corey Harris, Chief Accountability Officer

Nathan Kuder, Chief Financial Officer

David Bloom, Deputy Chief Financial Officer

Every child, in every classroom, in every school of the Boston Public Schools system has the same opportunity to

achieve the greatness within them as anybody else.

Boston Public Schools Opportunity and Achievement Gap Policy

Student$9M

Teacher$12M

Content$15M

Raise the bar on student learning with high-quality learning materials, resources and improved learning environments.

Increase teachers’ skill through coaching and consistent feedback and developing high-quality curriculum.

A strong foundation for student success and more support to connect families to resources and information.

Boston Public Schools4

We expect Mayor Walsh’s Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Proposal to include an $80M increase for BPS.

New investments directly in school budgets or school services budgeted centrally above and beyond standard cost increase.

Estimates for standard cost increases, including existing student services, cost of new BTU contract and operations.

Proposed General Fund Budget for the Boston Public Schools in FY21.

Overview of the Fiscal Year 2021 Budget

Proposal

$80M

$36M

$1.3B

$44M

Boston Public Schools

Additional Teaching positions, including 24 FTE for Art, Music, and PE.

Additional Paraprofessional positions, the result of inclusion expansion and a full-time position in every K2 classroom.

Positions added to improve the student experience and support the whole child and whole family, including:

▫ 47 Social Workers▫ 42 Instructional Facilitators, and▫ 37 Family Liaisons

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100% of new investments

in school budgets or

school services

64

126

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CategoryFY20

CurrentFY21

Proposed ChangePercentChange

Direct School Expenses

School Budgets $623 $660 $37.4 6.0%

ELT $16 $22 $6.3 40.2%

Benefits $117 $125 $8.0 6.9%

Total Schools $756 $807 $51.7 6.8%

SchoolServices

Budgeted Centrally

Transportation $96 $99 $3.3 3.5%

Special Education $45 $49 $4.0 8.9%

Facilities $67 $72 $4.8 7.2%

Other $68 $76 $8.1 11.8%

Benefits $21 $22 $1.4 6.9%

Total SSBC $297 $319 $21.7 7.3%

Central Administration

Central Administration $57 $58 $0.5 0.8%

Benefits $7 $8 $0.5 6.9%

Total Central $64 $65 $1.0 1.5%

Non-BPS StudentServices

Student services $30 $32 $1.8 6.0%

Transportation $31 $35 $3.9 12.8%

Total Non-BPS $61 $67 $5.7 9.4%

Total $1.179B $1.259B $80M 6.8%

64% of new

funding

27% of new

funding

Ensuring equity as we invest in quality across the City

BPS Draft Strategic

Plan

“Boston Public Schools (BPS) has a long, rich tradition and commitment to education as the birthplace of America’s public education system. BPS is a leader in urban education. Nationally recognized programs and initiatives such as universal preschool, early childhood education, an equitable school-based funding formula, and policies specifically focused on creating greater racial equity are but a few of BPS’s signature accomplishments.”


Weighted Student Funding

(WSF)

Our consistent and transparent formula enables us to differentiate funding based on student need and enrollment

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Sample Weighted Student FundingTemplate


WSF Varies Funding by

Student Need

Weight Category StudentsFY21

FundingGrade Level Weights 54,004 $351,038,365Students with Disabilities

10,709 $112,198,769

English Language Learners

18,085 $20,175,228

High Risk Students 3,716 $2,187,496Opportunity Index Funding

42,947 $11,163,109

Economic Disadvantage 39,053 $25,829,202Programmatic Supports 4,099 $12,256,466Foundation Funding 54,004 $24,447,063Total $559,295,698


Adapting WSF to Student

Need and Staffing

Costs

12 We continue to evaluate our weights to respond to student needs and staffing requirementsWe modified Weighted Student Funding (WSF) for three reasons related to the new BTU Contract:

● Paraprofessional Salaries ($6.2M): Paraprofessional salaries increased faster than teacher salaries, leading us to increase all classrooms with a paraprofessionals by .1. Weights changed:

○ K1 and K2 general education weights○ All High Needs Special Education weights

● ESL Support in Inclusion ($1.4M): By increasing the ELD 4/5 weight by .04, we provide more options for servicing students with an ELD 4 or 5 in inclusion classrooms.

● Full time paraprofessional in K2 (3.7M). All K2 classrooms will now have a full time paraprofessional. This impacts only K2 general education classrooms and changed the K2 grade-level weight by .2.


Sources of Direct School

Funding Including Title I and

IDEA

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Notes: These figures do not include the school services that are budgeted centrally. All figures are current as of February 5th and may change as the budgeting process continues.Additional adjustments include EEC/ELC supplements and other rules-based allocations (SIFE, EI), this amount is projected to decrease due to Inclusive Support and Homeless funding added to WSF.Expanded Learning Time costs include Schedule A as well as central costs for Pilot, Innovation, and Special Agreement schools.

FY20 FY21 $ CH % CHWeighted Student Funding $517.4 $559.3 $41.9 8%Special Programs (non-WSF) $26.2 $27.9 $1.7 6%Title I and IDEA $20.0 $19.7 -$0.3 -2%Nurse and Special Education Coordinator $20.7 $24.7 $4.0 19%New Investment Positions $0.0 $15.6 $15.6 n/aRule-based soft landings $5.5 $4.5 -$1.0 -18%Rules-based Foundation for Quality $1.9 $3.9 $2.0 105%Autonomous Opt-Outs $3.8 $3.5 -$0.3 -8%Additional Adjustments $21.9 $20.9 -$1.0 -5%Expanded Learning Time $15.6 $21.9 $6.3 40%Benefits $117.2 $125.2 $7.9 7%Total $759.7 $827.0 $67.3 9%


Sample Allocation One-Pager

14 We provide detailed budget information for individuals schools on our website


Investment Highlight: 1:1 Computing

Technology is an essential tool used everyday in a multitude of ways, by everyone, and must be prioritized.

▫ 58% of BPS chromebooks will be beyond end of life by June 2020.

▫ Purchase and management of student technology, including:

▪ 1:1 computing for students in grades 7-12.

▪ 2:1 computing for students in grades 3-6.

▪ 3:1 computing for students in grades K0-2.

▪ 40,000 new student devices.

Rapidly expanding student access to technology

Boston Public SchoolsRaise the bar on quality learning environments

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Re-establish high expectations for the classrooms, bathrooms, hallways, and play spaces that our students deserve, recognizing the impact of the learning environment and resources:

$1.5M Ensure our facilities support learning by adding 25 additional custodians, investing in building condition and cleanliness.

In the spring, we will present the BPS Capital Budget, which will propose additional investments in school facilities, including upgrades to drinking fountains and bathrooms.


Investment Highlight: Facilities


Investment Highlight: Continued

expansion of Pre-K

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■ Build mixed delivery system with multiple ways to to receive free school day

■ Innovation, best practice & quality indicators across settings

CoherenceQuality Equity

■ Targeted efforts towards quality access

■ Evidence based curriculum, coaching and professional development

■ Strong educator workforce

■ Early & increases family engagement

■ Sustainability systems

■ Identify and address inequitable access for children & families

■ Close the opportunity & achievement gap and increase success rate by providing K1-2nd support & resources

Universal Pre-K GoalsBoston Public Schools

Building off past budgets, we are doing more to support schools through

enrollment changes

“Our definition of educational equity is clear. At BPS, every child in every classroom is entitled to an equitable, world-class, high-quality education. Each child should have the same unfettered access to every conceivable tool to unlock the greatness within them…. This requires a commitment to systemic change in the way we allocate funding, provide access to information, deliver instruction, and make resources available to meet students’ needs. ”

Boston Public Schools Draft Strategic Plan

BPS Draft Strategic

Plan


Breaking the cycle of

declining enrollment

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1. ENROLLMENT DECLINE

4. FEWER FAMILIES PICK

SCHOOL

3. REDUCTION IN STAFF AND PROGRAMS

2. FUNDING DECREASE

Enrollment & Funding

Cycle


Two reasons for declining enrollment:

total student population and school

choice

Between SY16-17 and SY18-19, the total school age population declined by 928 students, while BPS enrollment declined by 1,851 students.


5 Year Trend in High School

Enrollment

Total high school enrollment

Enrollment in selective admissions high schools and the exam schools

Enrollment at Madison Park

Enrollment in open enrollment, comprehensive high schools

-8%

+5%

+10%

-18%


Breaking the cycle of

declining enrollment

23The City’s $100M commitment allows us to think boldly about how to become the first choice for all families

Our FY21 Budget addresses enrollment and invests in quality in two ways:

1. Reinforcing a foundation for quality, particularly for schools that are experiencing enrollment shifts.

2. Intervening in our highest needs schools to create high quality schools in every neighborhood for every family.


Prioritizing stability and

access to programming

BPS allocates $125M to schools to supplement enrollment-based WSF allocations

Category AmountEnrollment-based WSF Allocations $534,848,634Foundation for Quality $57,300,022Non-WSF Program Supports $42,984,798Turnaround & Transformation Investments

$15,788,150

Enrollment Transition Support $5,957,264Other Allocations $3,471,933Grand Total $660,350,801


Prior Investments

in Foundation

Budgets

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▫ WSF includes a $210K “foundation” to each school which is for a Principal/Headmaster, the school secretary and some basic supplies.

▫ We allocate Coordinators of Special Education (COSE) to handle the IEP process.

▫ In FY20, we began guaranteeing a 1.0 Nurse in every building.

▫ Schools received a “Sustainability Allocation” if their budget was not sufficient to meet all compliance requirements.

Weighted Student Funding was implemented with a foundation for all schools, regardless of enrollment

Some foundational student servicesare budgeted and allocated centrally.


Investing in a new

Foundation for Quality

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▫ The Foundation for Quality ensures that all schools have a baseline amount of funding above compliance.

▫ Each school’s baseline amount varies by enrollment and need, with higher need schools having a higher per pupil baseline amount.

▫ Weights used to calculate the Foundation for Quality include:

▪ Opportunity Index weights▪ Economic Disadvantage weights:

students in poverty and students experiencing homelessness

Moving beyond “Sustainability”, our “Foundation for Quality” increases the baseline level of guaranteed funding


Foundation for Quality Example:Tobin K-8

27 Weight Enrollment FY21 Amount

OI Score .677

OI - School Support

429 (whole school) $71,381

OI - Partnerships 429 (whole school) $118,595

% Poverty 88.81%

Poverty 381 $174,533

Poverty Concentration

166 $76,270

Homelessness 39 $17,866

Homelessness Concentration

18 $8,040

Total - Quality Target

426 $466,685 ($1,096 pp)


Foundation for Quality Example:Tobin K-8

28 Budget Amount

Director of Instruction $128,136

1.5 FTE Social Workers $161,460

Cluster Substitute $25,537

Non-Personnel $69,567

=

Proposed Budget Excluding Compliance $384,700

Proposed budget before Foundation for Quality

$466,685 $384,700 $81,985

Additional funding is determined by taking the difference between Quality Target and

Proposed Budget Excluding Compliance

Below Quality Target, funding is required


Supporting Schools in Transition

29 Type of Support

Description Amount

K6 Transition To fully fund 6th grade in schools impacted by K6 transition

$1.7M

Inclusion Transition

Temporary support to schools adding formal inclusion programs for FY21

$0.2M

Strands in Transition and/or Capacity Maintenance

Temporary support to schools with a strand undergoing redesign or to maintain capacity in the district’s only program at a certain grade level

$1.1M

Foundation for Quality

Replacing sustainability with an expanded definition of baseline services for schools

$3.9M

Total $6.9M


Supporting schools

during K6 Expansion

30$0.8M - Schools that expanded to K6 were held harmless from under-enrolled 6th grades:

Adams, Bradley, Clap, Channing, Everett, Guild,

Hale, Kenny, Manning, Otis, Perkins, PJ Kennedy, Tynan

$0.9M - Schools that traditionally received those 6th graders received soft landings as needed supports during their transition to a new enrollment pattern:

McCormack, Edwards

Impacted Schools Not Requiring Soft Landing:Conley, Harvard/Kent, O’Donnell, Umana


Supporting Programs in

Transition for Capacity

31 School Description Amount

TechBoston Maintain capacity during a shift in the assignment policy for middle school feeder patterns.

$185,782

Quincy Sustain only ES Physically Impaired program during redesign to Multiple Disabilities

$205,050

Taylor Maintain capacity for district’s only SEI Haitian Creole program $175,514

Condon Maintain capacity for district's only DDC ES program $118,514

Higginson/ Lewis

Maintain ABA classrooms during transition $160,823

Perkins Temporary support for expansion of ABA program $117,073

Tynan Maintain regional assignment capacity $73,834

Manning Temporary support for only K0/K1 EI class $20,157

Total $1.1M

Raising Quality of Our Schools: Investing in Transformation Schools

“There is a growing sense of impatience to address longstanding, systemic barriers that hamper our students’ ability to reach their full potential. The Mayor, School Committee, Superintendent, staff and community are collectively committed to urgent, courageous action that will advance our best hopes and aspirations for our students”

BPS Draft Strategic

Plan


We are investing in our lowest performing

schools

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Bounded Ethicality

The systemic and predictable psychological processes that lead us to engage in ethically

questionable behaviors inconsistent with our own

preferred ethics


Work Upstream

Strong Tier 1

Good first instruction

Preventative action


Monitor Impact

Keeping “score”

Adjusting as necessary throughout “the

game”

Intervening with support when

necessary

Making tough decisions when

intervention does not work

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Data are like pixels. Many are required to form a clear image


MTSS

Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Practices

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Culturally and

Linguistically Sustaining Practices

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4 Foci

1. Leadership

2. Instruction - Literacy

3. Wholistic Child Support

4. Healthy School Climate & Culture

Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Practices

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● Regardless of role, everyone is a leader.

● Ability to influence others

● Leaders help themselves and others overcome their individual selfishness, weaknesses and fears toward doing harder, better, and more important work than we would do on our own.

Instruction with a Focus on Literacy

Intention Reality

Wholistic Child Support

● a coordinated approach to education and public health that works to ensure each child will be healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

● requires equity-based and culturally responsive system building

DOWN

STREAM

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3

UP

STREAM

Healthy School Culture & Climate

● Climate - represents the attitude of an organization; collective mood or morale of a group of people

● Culture - the unwritten rules to which group members conform in order to remain in good standing with their colleagues


Above & Beyond Investments

★ Instructional Transformation Coach

★ Transformation Social Worker

★ Family Liaison

★ STEAM Specialist

★ Increased Psychologist FTE



▫ School Superintendents▫ Headmasters/Principals▫ Instructional Facilitators &

Data Inquiry Facilitators▫ Transformation Program

Managers▫ Teachers/STEAM Specialists▫ Schools Counselors & Social

Workers▫ School Psychologists▫ Family Liaisons▫ Nurses

Professional Learning Groups

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▫ Tonight’s budget presentation

▫ An interactive tool to explore budgets: bostonpublicschools.org/explorebudget

▫ FY21 WSF School-by-School comparison

▫ WSF Templates for all schools

▫ FY21 preliminary general fund account code budget

For more information, please visit:

www.bostonpublicschools.org/budget

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Ensuring Equity & Transparency

We provide extensive information online, including:

Boston Public Schools56 Wednesday, February 5: School Committee Meeting

Preliminary FY21 Budget Presentation

Bolling Building

Thursday, February 13: 6 p.m. Budget Hearing

School budgets review

Curley K-8 School , Jamaica Plain

Wednesday, February 26: School Committee Meeting

Bolling Building

Tuesday, March 10: 6 p.m. Budget Hearing

Review of central budgets

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr K-8 School, Dorchester, MA

Wednesday, March 18: 5 p.m. Budget Hearing

Finance Team addresses questions on final FY21 proposal

Bolling Building

Wednesday, March 25: FY21 Budget Vote

Bolling Building

bostonpublicschools.org/budget | [email protected]

Upcoming Budget Hearings

Documents

FY21 Budget: Schools - Boston Public Schools · “Boston Public Schools (BPS) has a long, rich tradition and commitment to education as the birthplace of America’s public education